Jonathan Edwards, a prominent preacher and theologian during the Great Awakening, is renowned for one of his powerful sermons. One of his most famous works, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” effectively illustrates his ability to manipulate the emotions of the audience. The primary emotion Edwards aims to bring to mind is fear, more specifically the fear and divine wrath and eternal damnation. This essay will explore how Edwards instills this fear through vivid imagery, direct appeal to the audience, and stark contrasts between the saved and the damned. Firstly, Edwards employs vivid and terrifying imagery to instill fear in his audience. He describes the precarious state of sinners with the metaphor of a person walking on a rotten covering over a pit of hell, stating, “The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart.” This imagery creates a sense of imminent danger and the constant threat of God’s judgment, making the audience …show more content…
He states, “...there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.” This assertion strips the audience of any sense of control or security, reinforcing the idea that their fate is entirely in God’s hands. This contributes to the fear of divine wrath, as it underscores the unpredictability and severity of God’s judgment. Finally, Edwards contrasts the fate of the saved and the damned to heighten the fear of eternal damnation. He vividly describes the torments of hell, saying, “...It is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of fire of wrath...” This contrast between the eternal suffering of the damned and the salvation of the righteous serges to amplify the fear of damnation, uring the audience to repent and seek salvation to avoid such